Thanks to Carnotzet.
Some information coming from mal_h (general manager)
BEWARE, WALL OF TEXT INCOMING
The following discussion is very interesting (and quite different from what we’re used to) but contains a lot of text which takes me forever to translate.
The thread is about the lack of communication from WG developers. In the thread, a player compares WG with a bortsch (kind of soup) company. “It’d be as if all your customers told you every day you need to put less carrots or more onions in your soup. Would you react after every comment? Well it’s the same for WG”.
This is mal_h’s answer:
“The analogy is rather good, but at the same time, we don’t want to offend anyone. Players make suggestions out of interest for the game. I instantly discard some of the suggestions I read….I’d like to explain in details why the suggestion cannot be accepted, and could even be more harmful than helpful to the game. I start to write, but then I realize that the person I’m writing to will not understand what I’m talking about and will only get irritated thinking that I’m showing off. Let me make an analogy with the “Orange revolution”. It happens when problems inherent to a society are artificially inflated and instead of trying to solve them, the society plunges into self-destruction. In those situations, there are always opposing groups. In this case, there are two groups, one from Ukraine, one from Russia.
They are incurable. They don’t need anything or report to anyone, they just need destruction. They don’t know what it is to work to earn money. It is even more frequent on forums as people are hidden behind a nickname.
It is important to see this and understand it. They destroy game communities, not on their own, but by manipulating sensitive persons. That is why we have a hard time discerning who is who. Whom is it worth speaking to, who isn’t. That’s why it’s hard (sometimes even useless) to speak to people who are overwhelmed with negative emotions. When the forum finally reaches the point where any dialogue turns into a slaughter, who will be the victims? The constructive part of the community will be the first victim. And no Community manager or developer can do anything about it, no matter how hard they try. Only those who really like the game, those who understand what is happening and can make the difference between the terminators and the victims, will be able to bring the forums back from the point of no return.
I’d like to change your Bortsch analogy into an airplane analogy. The game is at least as complex as an airplane. And experienced passengers’ advice is valuable but not always implemented. We gladly listen, think, speak and explain. But without your help, we can’t make the difference between passengers and terrorists ready to blow themselves up. You’re the only ones able to do that.
By the way, here’s a video showing the evolution of WoWs over the course of its many versions. [It’s in Russian but it shows some nice screenshots for those who don’t know how it looked like before]. VIDEO”
A player’s answer to that : “It’s a good analogy (with the plane) but to know how passengers can be more comfortably seated, you need to ask them and not decide for them. For instance, nothing was done or is planned for the interface (I’m not talking about TB, RB functionalities). And the old one doesn’t work that well.”
mal_h: “I will likely trigger a new wave of angry mob but I’ll try to explain. Be patient and try to hear me out. Let’s keep the plane analogy that works rather well.
You pretend it’s obvious “passengers know best how they can be more comfortably seated”. Well let me take the role of the passengers (we all were once in their shoes), how can we be seated more comfortably?
This will be a perfect analogy for the suggestions found on the forums, I will be the passengers and you, the aircraft developer.
1. There should be enough room for tall, small and corpulent passengers.
2. There should be enough room for passengers to stretch their legs and adjust their chair in a lying position.
3. Air conditioning and light switches needs to be easily and comfortably reached by tall, small, corpulent and thin passengers.
4. Every seat should be near a window and the window should be centered so the passenger can easily look out of it.
5. Seats must have armrests and an adjustable headrest, and preferably be equipped with heating/air conditioning and massage. As usual they should fit tall, small, corpulent or thin passengers.
6. Seats must be next to an aisle so passengers can get up or sit down without disturbing others.
7. The heating and air conditioning system need to provide specific air humidity, temperature and pressure.
8. Spaces between rows must be large enough so passengers can easily pass each other (including corpulent passengers).
9. Luggage compartments must be large enough to contain all types of luggage.
10. Cumbersome luggage should be loaded and unloaded quickly and should not have any damage, be placed on top of each other or be dirtied.
11. Windows should be large enough and preferably square for passengers to see outside easily. Preferably, it should have a sliding panel to have some ventilation.
12. Seats for children should be separated from the others with soundproof partition.
13. Passengers should have the option to choose their neighbour – man or woman, nationality, religion.
14. Meals on board should take into account each passenger’s health, tastes, traditions, including religion. Meals of every kind should be provided, kosher, halal, gluten free, vegetarian, even human meat for cannibals.
15. Obese people should be able to expand their seat to a size which they’re comfortable with.
16. Flight cost should be appropriate for all passengers, preferably free.
17. Purchase of a premium flight should provide a flight twice as fast and its price should be affordable for all social classes.
Well, with all the suggestions I got from the passengers, there should be 78 points in total but I think that 17 is enough.
Now tell me, as an airplane developer, how you will fulfill all of those wishes and if you can do it by tomorrow?
And tomorrow, I’ll start to complain about your laziness, your stupidity and your greed.
I’d like to mention two areas in which, according to my long experience, everybody seem to be an expert: 1. Interface. 2. Game design.
A few words about the interface.
The interface is how the game interacts with you, in other words, it’s the game itself. In order to change it, we usually have to change the game. Let’s take the plane analogy once again and talk about windows. They are the plane interface with passengers. And they are also part of the plane. See point 11 (above), why aren’t windows centered with each seat? I have to tilt my head to see something? This interface is crap! And the form is strange and not to my liking. It should be square, centered with my seat, with a sliding panel in case my neighbour farts.
Everything evolves and some of the points I listed above are without no doubt already implemented in airplane services in one form or another.
And we’re making sure the game is evolving. Once again, go watch the video I linked to see how the game evolved.
Moreover, I’m very grateful for all the players who post their suggestions and don’t get angry if we don’t respond to every one of you, we are several thousands less than you are and we have to develop a game on top of that. We make the game according to our capabilities and your advice.The more emotional conversations become, the harder it is for us to develop the game and answer to your suggestions.
It’s possible that I’m becoming a Buddhist but I think together we can improve the communication between us, both in form and content. At least, on our side, we will try.”
